Attack of the Frogs: Stadio della Roma Delayed by Ecological Concerns

EXODUS: 8:1-4 — And TOTTI sayeth, if thou shalt let me go I will plague your stadium with frogs. The pitch will teem with frogs. They will come up through your tunnel and into your locker room, and onto your jerseys, into the houses of your board members and on your fans, and into your boots and socks. The frogs will go up on you and your people and all your officials.

Only a week after the Stadio della Roma project received affirmation from the local council, it appears Roma’s new stadium has met another road block: frogs. And, no, I am not talking about an invasion of Frogmore, the lovable freaky mascot from Portsmouth F.C., there is an actual threat of slimy, croaky amphibians around Tor di Valle.

Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images

AIDAA, the Italian Association for the Defence of Animals and the Environment, has declared “if in the definitive plans for the new Roma stadium they do not respect the nesting zones of amphibians and in particular frogs, [we] will lodge an appeal to block the project.”

While it remains to be seen what kind of revisions Pallotta and company will have to make in their plans, this ordeal is just another nuisance in the seemingly never-ending road to stadium construction. Not only is the project receiving human resistance, but now Mother Earth is giving Roma a terrestrial middle finger.

But wait a minute... there is another side of this. Biblical allegories aside, in classical lore, frogs symbolize fertility and harmony. They are often associated with rebirth. Hey, that’s not so bad. Imagine if the grounds were infested with rats. Evil, filthy rats. Or dare I say, what if goats grazed the grounds... Anyways, those searching for a sign about Roma’s future need not look further. Instead of reading into this likely blown-out-of-proportion story, we can expel a sigh of relief. The post-Totti era has begun with an indication that the future is bright.